R.C. Davis

People genuinely don't understand this: 1. The global average IQ is 84. It's not the only factor but it's a major one. 2. Most successful ethnic groups have an average IQ of 100-105. The highest (Ashkenazi Jews) sit at about 107-112. 3. In order for a society to thrive, it needs to have an average IQ over 100. 103-105 or so seems to be the threshold. At 103-105, you get peak England, the Scandinavian countries or peak Germany. At 100 you get France, and at 98 Spain. The difference between global domination and also-ran is surprisingly small; just 2-3 IQ points. Another 4-5 and you're a basket case country like the Philippines or Bulgaria or modern Greece. 4. IQ can, within a population, shift solely through genetics, by 0.5-1.0 points per generation. Social factors can magnify that effect by 5-7 points. Consequently, the functional IQ of a population can change enough in one generation for a society to go from "world domination" to " basket case." A more realistic outcome is that this can take 2 or 3 generations to happen. Well, that is what happened. People often misinterpret the Flynn effect and think that IQs are rising but they're not. They're declining. 5. America is now too low IQ to maintain its position as world hegemon. More so, current birthrate trends have us rapidly entering not just "also ran" territory but "basket case." The only reason we will stay on top is because we're absurdly rich compared to the rest of the world so we have a long way to fall before anyone catches us. 6. Successful countries become successful usually through a long process of breeding themselves into a higher IQ and then matching that with a social organization that maximizes it. All it takes is one bad generation to destroy what took centuries to gain. This is why today's Greeks aren't like the Greeks of golden age antiquity, and today's Romans aren't like the Romans of old. 7. The highest IQ populations today are both not reproducing but also replacing themselves with low IQ populations. Even Israel is only 1/3 Ashkenazi with lower IQ groups making up the majority of the country. It is worth noting that the Haredi (the cohort with the highest total fertility rate) is about 80% Ashkenazi, but I have no available data on their average IQ. My point is that IQ does not appear to be an evolutionary advantage in the modern age and as such, it isn't being selected for. This suggests that we're in a race against decline. We need to solve the IQ problem through technology before we simply run out of smart people living in functioning societies.